Ponta de São Lourenço: Madeira's Desert Coastline

Everyone pictures Madeira as green — laurisilva forest, levadas, terraced hillsides. Ponta de São Lourenço is the exception, and it's a genuinely strange one to see for the first time: bare red-and-ochre volcanic rock, almost no vegetation, cliffs on both sides dropping straight into the Atlantic.

The trail runs 7km round trip out along the peninsula that forms the island's eastern tip, taking most people 2.5 to 4 hours depending on how many viewpoints you stop at — and there are a lot of viewpoints. It's rated moderate rather than easy, mostly for the steeper, rockier stretches and steps near the final lookout, but there's no technical climbing involved.

Wind is the thing to plan around here more than fitness — the peninsula is fully exposed, with nothing to break the Atlantic gusts, so a still day inland can still mean a genuinely windy walk out here. Bring a layer even in summer.

Booking through SIMplifica is required, at €4.50 per person (€3 with certain tour operators) — and given how different this landscape is from the rest of the island, it's worth pairing with a day that includes somewhere greener, if only for the contrast. We're happy to point you toward a good combination based on where you're staying.